BuyingClubSoftware.com is a simple shopping cart for food buying clubs. The goal is to improve the local distribution system between farmers/producers, distributors, and people working together to buy in bulk to save time and money.

v0.6.1 Release

We are happy to announce this upgrade after a long hiatus on official updates. More and more, we move closer to a final v1.0 version providing the software we have imagined from the beginning. Along the way we’ve had tons of suggestions and feedback, and we thank everyone who participated in those types of discussions. We have all pitched in to this effort, and behind the scenes we are extremely grateful for those in the buying club communities.

Lots to cover so here we go…

New features in v0.6.1:

Product SKU displays on system export files

Large Catalog Format – new catalog homepage displays top-level categories if more than 500 products

“Email Receipt” button on checkout page sends email to the member’s address in the system, or any address you choose

Allow members to view their basket after order closes, before pickup

Members may log in by email address or username

Order Status now shown next to “Order Cycle” link in admin

“Print Receipt” button on checkout page

Displays # of products in catalog on product page

Removed “short order name” in Order Cycles – now one name

Improved Split Sheet display – line break after product name for better readability

Here’s a bit more detail about all these new featues…

Product SKU displays on system export file. Many clubs depend on SKUs to compare their order to invoices and things of that nature. Now you’ll see the SKU on the final export, which is where most will reconcile billing and the SKU is helpful to have.

Large Catalog Format creates a “drill-down” of categories and sub-categories to click through. This format is presented for a catalog with over 500 products automatically, and uses the categories you already have for the main catalog page. Once you click on a category, you’ll see the products listed to shop as you would in the one-page format.

Subcategories are managed in the Categories tool, and work the same way. Sortable in the admin to display as you wish, and have an ID number to use in your spreadsheet to upload.

Main page of catalog displaying categories to click on, and a search mechanism.
This includes a search for products on sale, also a new feature discussed below.

You’ll see this if your category has subcategories.

And here’s the list of products.

This is what subcategories look like in the admin.

Product On Sale function added to product level. When a product is on sale, this is what it looks like to people shopping. To view a list of all products on sale, check the “sale items only” box and click “search products” with nothing in the search field.

In the admin tool for Products, you’ll see a new feature for programming a sale product. Check the box, put the old price in the “original price” field, and put the new price in the “Unit Price” field as if it were the actual price of the product.

Update Taxable Products tool. For clubs selling taxable products, this tool lists only the products from your order and gives a checkbox to click if that product is taxable, as opposed to identifying every taxable item in a catalog that may or may not be ordered. This is mostly applicable to those ordering products other than food that have catalogs with thousands of products.

Email Receipt button on checkout page sends an email receipt to the member. You have the option of using the email address in the system, or typing in any address you wish. We also added a “Print” button for those wanting to print invoices for members at the time of purchase.

Start by clicking the “Email Button” on the Checkout screen.

The member’s email address in the software will automatically come up, but you can type in any email address you wish and click “Send Email”.

The member receives an email with the receipt just as you see it during Checkout.

Members can view what they ordered after shopping and before pickup. After an order is closed, members can now log in prior to pickup to view their basket with the adjustments of the final order based on what cases filled or did not to the member knows what to expect at pickup. Once a new order is opened, their basket emptied and ready to use for the new order.

Order Status now shown next to “Order Cycle” link in admin.

Displays # of products in catalog on product page

Removed “short order name” in Order Cycles – now one name.

Improved Split Sheet display – line break after product name for better readability.